


I Think I’m in Love With You, and I’m Terrified

by Waywardfangir1



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-13
Updated: 2015-12-13
Packaged: 2018-05-06 10:24:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5413268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Waywardfangir1/pseuds/Waywardfangir1
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set following the events of Season 3B.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Think I’m in Love With You, and I’m Terrified

**Author's Note:**

  * For [cellard00rs](https://archiveofourown.org/users/cellard00rs/gifts).



> A tumblr challenge brought onto me by redcarrigan. She knows I love me some Sterek. ^^

Stiles closed his locker as the last team member left the locker room. Grateful to have a moment alone, Stiles sighed and leaned his head against the locker, squeezing his eyes shut. A memory of the nogitsune flashed through his mind and he quickly opened his eyes.

“Nope, nope.” Stiles said out loud. “Not thinking about that. No.”

Stiles slipped his hoodie on and turned to leave, promptly jumping back when he bumped into Derek.

“Geez, Derek!” Stiles exclaimed, leaning back against the locker. 

“I’m sorry.” Derek said.

Taken aback by the apology, Stiles recovered and shrugged casually.

“It’s fine… not like I shouldn’t be used to you coming in all stealth like by now.”

Derek said nothing, and instead sat down on one of the benches. Stiles frowned slightly, crossing one of his arms across his midsection, the other toward his shoulder. Derek was not acting like himself. He was hunched over on the bench, clasping his hands together. Twice he glanced at Stiles, only to look away, his gaze seemingly unable to focus on any one object. 

“Derek…?” Stiles said softly, taking a small step forward. “What’s going on? You can talk to me, man… tell me, what is it?”

“It was a dream…” Derek said, speaking in a rushed tone. “Actually, it was more like a nightmare.” 

“Okay…” Stiles said. “What happened?”

“They were about you...” Derek looked up at Stiles, wincing at his horrified look. “You weren’t… possessed, or hurting anyone, it…” Derek looked away again, and took a shaky breath. “You were the one being hurt. Over and over again. I watched you die so many times, because each time… each time, I failed to protect you.”

“They were just dreams, Derek.” Stiles said softly, sitting down across from him. “You know, there’s ways to tell if you’re dreaming… your hands have extra fingers, weird random stuff like that. See?” 

Derek looked up at Stiles as he held up both hands, showing only five fingers on both of them. Derek nodded slightly, a small bit of tension leaving his shoulders.

“If I hadn’t been avoiding you for the past month...” Derek said bitterly. “I would’ve known something was wrong, I would have smelled the nogitsune on you.” 

“You were avoiding me?” Stiles asked softly, a bit surprised at the short stab of pain he felt by that admission.

“I had to… or at least I thought I did.”

“Why?”

“Because…” Derek said, hesitating briefly before looking up to meet Stiles’ gaze. “I think I’m in love with you, and I’m terrified.”

Of all the things Stiles expected Derek to say, that fell somewhere around “I want to go to Disneyland and meet Mickey Mouse.” He opened his mouth only to close it a few times.

“Wow….” Stiles mentally face-palmed, trying desperately to form a coherent sentence. “Um… how… how long? Have you been thinking it, anyway… that you’re in love with me... obviously that, I mean, I don’t know why I think you’d need clarification.”

“A while now…” Derek said softly, his speech starting to revert back to its normal speed. “When I realized that you were the one I trusted most out of the pack…”

Stiles nodded, his mind still processing the idea that Derek Hale might be in love with him, a skinny, defenseless teenager who’d been so easily possessed by an evil spirit. 

“And… it terrifies you?” Stiles asked. 

“I don’t really have the best track record…” Derek said. “I know you’re nothing like Kate or Jennifer… but Paige… she was innocent, and she’s dead because of me.” 

Stiles sat quietly for a moment, still deep in thought. “Would it make it worse if I told you that I might be in love with you too?”

Derek’s head snapped up, as if he couldn’t believe what he’d heard.

“When I first met you, I was terrified of you… but eventually I started to trust you, too. There’s been times when I thought I was going to watch you die, and… that terrified me, too. I guess what I’m getting at is…”

Stiles hesitated, unable to find the proper words for what he wanted to say. Slowly he stood up, only to sit down again next to Derek. Derek watched him closely as Stiles reached for his hand, lacing their fingers together. Stiles’s pink tongue darted out to moisten his lips, and in one fluid motion, Derek reached for Stiles’s cheek with his free hand, cupping it gently and bringing their faces together. A surprised yelp escaped Stiles, but instead of pulling away, he tilted his head to the side, opening his mouth slightly. Warmth spread throughout his body as his heart fluttered in his chest. He knew that he couldn’t be counted on to say how long the kiss had lasted, but Stiles eventually broke the kiss, pressing his forehead to Derek’s as he panted slightly.

“I guess what I’m getting at is…” Stiles said again once his train of thought started going again, “Is that I wanna try… with you, and see where it goes. Can we?”

Derek nodded. They both knew that this was hardly going to be the stuff fairy tales were made of, and that it was going to be hard, unpredictable, and downright dangerous at times. But then, it was after all, Beacon Hills.


End file.
